Convective diffusion in a periodic array of spheres for small reynolds numbers

It is shown that in flow past a system of spheres of radius a situated at the nodes of a cubic lattice with the period b in the direction of one of the principal translations of the lattice under the condition (a/b) · · P^1/31 (P is the Péclet number, P1), the concentration of dissolved material absorbed by the sphere surfaces diminishes logarithmically at distances large compared with b, but small compared with L=Pb²/4a. At distances considerably larger than L, the decrease is described by an exponential law which coincides with the law of concentration decrease at distances much larger than b in the case of a spatially homogeneous distribution of the spheres. We consider the flow of an incompressible fluid with the velocity U past a system of spheres of radius a. We assume that the Reynolds number R=Ua/ (where , the kinematic viscosity coefficient, is much larger than unity). Dissolved in the fluid is a material of concentration c which is absorbed by the sphere surfaces. The diffusion coefficient D is assumed to be sufficiently small for the Péclet number P=Ua/D to be much larger than unity. The spheres are situated at the nodes of a cubic lattice with the period b. As will be shown below, it is necessary that P(a/b)³1. Under these assumptions the concentration varies in a thin (of the order aP^–1/3) diffusion layer near the surface of each sphere. A diffusion wake is formed behind each sphere. The transverse dimensions of this wake for a sufficiently widely spaced lattice (aP^1/3 b) exceed the effective thickness of the diffusion boundary layer, which enables us to reduce the problem of concentration absorption on the surface of the system of spheres to the problem considered by Levich 1] concerning the convective diffusion of a material of constant constant concentration flowing past a single sphere.Hasimoto 2] considers the solution of the Stokes equation describing the motion of a viscous fluid past an array of spheres situated at the nodes of a cubic lattice. However, he does not give an expression for the velocity field applicable near the surface of some single sphere which is necessary to the solution of the diffusion problem.In the method of Lamb 3] (§336) and Burgers 4], in dealing with the flow of a viscous stream past a single sphere, one considers the equation of motion in space, including the interior of the sphere, and not just the solution of the equation in the space outside the sphere with boundary conditions at the sphere surface. At the center of the sphere one places a concentrated force and a system of multipoles whose magnitude is chosen in such a way as to ensure fulfillment of the required boundary conditions.This idea of introducing an effective potential is used in 2] to find the velocity field of a fluid flowing past an array of spheres. We propose a treatment of the effective potential method somewhat different from that of 2].The authors are grateful to V. G. Levich and V. S. Krylov for their comments.